SEPTEMBER MEETING

Kingston’s Early Education

and Schools

by Gordon Sly

Wednesday, September 16, 2015 at 7:30 pm

Senior’s Centre, Frontenac Room

56 Francis Street

LIMELIGHT Newsletter of the Kingston Historical Society Kingston Ontario Canada

Vol 17 no 4 ISSN 1488-5565 September 2015

Murney Tower Museum

90th Anniversary

Eventful Summer at Murney Tower

Murney Tower Museum has had an incredibly successful

summer. We had visitors from all Canada and all over the

world. Some people were first time guests, and others

come every year. Here are some of our favourite events

from this year. (See more photos inside)

Grand Opening

This year Murney Tower welcomed MP Ted Hsu, Mayor

Brian Paterson, Councillors Peter Stroud and Liz Schell,

and the grade seven LEAP class from Calvin Park Public

School. As always, members from the KHS were also

there to give their support.

In this issue…

President’s Message page 2 Contact Us page 2 Calendar page 3 JAM Dinner page 4 Announcements pages 5&6 Historical Article page 7 Sponsors page 8

Eva Barnes photo

Top Row: Peter Gower, Don Richardson, Gordon Sinclair, Betty Andrews,

John Whiteley, Paul Van Nest; Front Row: Graeme Watson, Peter Ginn, Anne

Richardson, Corinne Harrison Absent: Joe Brites, Nancy Day, Ben Holthof, Marcus Letourneau, Photo: Alan MacLachlan

Pho

to:

MT

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Kingston Historical Society

2015 Executive Council

L to R: Sheila Williams, Paul Mills, Graeme Watson—MT Director, Johanna Strong and Sophie Kiwala, MPP for Kingston and the Islands

Pho

to:

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I learned many new insights into contemporary history when I read Christopher Andrew’s authorised history

of Britain’s MI5, “The Defence of the Realm”. It was a good reminder that you do not always know what you are

living through until the researcher can look at all of the evidence and find out what really happened! I have also

been delving into George R. R. Martin’s fictional series “A Song of Ice and Fire”, popularised as “Game of

Thrones”. It certainly reminds us that for much of humankind’s existence, life was indeed nasty, brutal and short –

and, you might add to Hobbes’ thought, very painful.

We are still homeless, having been banished from the Library for their renovations, which seem to be taking

a long time to start. While St. Andrew’s was a good venue, where we may return sometime, it was unfortunately

not available for all of our needed dates in the fall. So we will travel again. The three fall meetings will all be in

the Seniors’ Centre on Francis Street. There is ample parking, and we will be meeting on the first floor, so there is

no accessibility problem. Drive west on Johnson, and take the second left after the Richardson Stadium, onto

Mowat Avenue. The second street on your right is Francis, and the Centre is ahead of you, where the street curves

to the left. See you there!

KHS MEETINGS are held usually at 7:30 pm on the third Wednesday of the month, September to May. For the next few meetings, we will be at the Senior’s Centre on Francis Street, in the Frontenac Room. Refreshments are served; a small donation is appreciated. Annual events include a formal fine dining experience with a special presentation honouring the birthday of Sir John A. Macdonald, on the Saturday closest to January 11th, and a commemoration marking his death at the Cataraqui Cemetery National Historic Site on June 6th. Canada’s First Prime Minister, Sir John A. Mac-donald, was born in 1815 and passed away in 1891.

NEW MEMBERS are always welcome! Membership rates are $50 per individual, $60 for families, $60 for institutions and $25 for students.

Membership includes: an invitation to attend

our monthly meetings; 5 issues of Limelight, our newsletter; and a copy of Historic Kingston, the annual journal published by the KHS.

MAILING ADDRESS:

Kingston Historical Society P.O. Box 54, Kingston ON K7L 4V6

kingstonhs@gmail.com www.kingstonhistoricalsociety.ca

page 2

A MESSAGE FROM OUR PRESIDENT Peter Gower

I hope that you have all had the summer that you hoped for. KHS, at the

Murney Tower, have been delighted with the increase in visitors, the publicity and

the work of our student staff in this our 90th year of operating the Tower. Thanks

are due to Graeme Watson and his committee for their innovations, and to the

City’s Heritage Fund for financing them.

photo

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THE KINGSTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Established in 1893

LIMELIGHT is published 5 times a year in January, March, May, September and

November. Please forward submissions to the Editor, Corinne Harrison

corinneharrison111@gmail.com

Printing of articles must be accompanied by an acknowledgement of the Society, the issue and date.

All photo credits and by-lines must be retained. The KHS gratefully acknowledges the support of our

sponsors in producing LIMELIGHT.

page 3

KHS EVENTS summer/fall2014

KHS October Meeting, Wednesday the 21st

7:30 pm at Senior’s Centre, Francis Street

Frontenac Room

“The Brant Family in Kingston”

with Jean Baxter

The Kingston Historical Society hosted the

Commemoration Service for Sir John A. Macdonald

at his gravesite

in the Cataraqui Cemetery National Historic Site

Saturday, June 6th at 1:30 pm Guest Speaker: The Honourable Robert (Bob) Rae, PC OC O.Ont QC It was a very touching ceremony attended by many— under clear, blue skies.

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KHS November Meeting

Wednesday, November 18th

“Collecting Sir John A. Memorabilia“

with Paul Fritz

7:30 pm

at Senior’s Centre, Francis Street Frontenac Room

Kingston Historical Society

Awards Night

Time & Date TBA

Please get your nominations in by October 31st

(see article on page 6)

Sir John A. Macdonald Anniversary Dinner — Saturday, January 9, 2016

page 4

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------

16th Annual Sir John A. Macdonald Dinner

Name(s): _____________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

Telephone and Email___________________________________________________________________________

Number of members attending: __________ # of Vegetarian meal(s) ______________________

Number of guests attending: _____________ Amount enclosed: _________________________

Please list any food allergies: ___________________________________________________________________

Please ensure you include the names of all those attending the dinner.

Our guest speaker for this year’s Sir John A. Macdonald

Anniversary Dinner, Saturday, January 9th, 2016, will be

Bishop Michael Bedford-Jones whom people will remember as

Dean of St. George’s Cathedral. The topic of his talk will be

“Thomas Bedford-Jones, my great-grandfather and his relation-

ship with Sir John A. Macdonald for the last 15 years of his

life”.

The dinner will take place at the Senior Staff Mess at the Royal

Military College. Please gather in the Mess at 6:00 pm to meet

our guest. The dinner will commence at 7:00 pm. The cost for

the dinner will be $70.00 per person. Seating will be limited to

100 members and guests. Please fill out the tear off portion

below and send it along with your payment made out to the:

Kingston Historical Society

C/O Anne Richardson 750 Amaryllis Street Kingston, Ontario

K7P 0A9

All reservations must be received no later than December 21, 2015. NOTE The annual date for this event will now occur on the

Saturday closest to his birthday.

COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS of historical interest

page 5

MEETINGS AND EVENTS

THE KINGSTON

HISTORICAL

SOCIETY

proudly presents the sale

of a handsomely designed

Sir John A. Macdonald

Commemorative Souvenir Coin

Available for purchase

by cash or cheque for $10 at:

Novel Idea Send in the Clowns

Sir John’s Public House Kingston Brewing Company

The Visitor Information Centre Expressions Fashion Boutique

Kingston Community Credit Union Branches

www.kingstonhistoricalsociety.ca

kingstonhs@gmail.com

Murney

Annual KHS Awards The Kingston Historical Society annual awards are giv-en to individuals, groups and institutions in recognition of their contributions to the preservation, understand-ing and interpretation of local Kingston history. Members of the KHS are asked to nominate those that they believe meet this award criteria. Please send your nomination by letter or email. Be sure to include the nominee’s contact information and why you believe the candidate should be recognized. Nominations by mail should be sent to: Chairperson, KHS Awards Committee, Box 54, Kingston, Ontario K7L 4V8. If submitting by email, send your nomination to 1985@kos.net. The deadline for nominations is October 31, 2015. The awards will be presented at the Annual KHS Awards Night.

The Kingston Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society will meet in the

Frontenac Room of the Kingston Seniors’ Centre, 56 Francis St., on

Saturday, September 19th at 10 a.m.

Patti Mordasewicz will speak on:

"Getting to Know the Neighbours - Resources at the Leeds & Grenville Archives"

Visitors welcome. Further details at www.ogs.on.ca/kingston

page 6

COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS

“To whom it may concern: I am a graduate student in Archaeology at Syracuse University studying the colonial defense net-work of Antigua in the West Indies. I just finished reading Alexander V. Campbell's book on the Royal American Regiment. I cannot seem to find any contact information on him at all, except for a brief bio on your website. I was hoping that someone within the Kingston Historical Society might have his contact email or be able to ask him if he would be interested in speaking with me. I am particularly interested if he has any information about the types of garrison duties the 60th Regiment undertook while serving in the Caribbean. As an archaeologist, I have come across the material remains from the 60th in the form of regimental buttons and headstones of soldiers and their family members who died in Antigua. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. With kind regards, Christopher Waters Graduate Student I Teaching Assistant Department of Anthropology | Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs Syracuse University”

GoAhead Tours & Education First

VIMY RIDGE CENTENNIAL

Upcoming Presentation

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15TH

6:30-7:30PM

SENIOR’S CENTRE, 56 FRANCIS STREET

Champlain hunts at Dog Lake

Watch for this story in next issue of Limelight!

An short account by Champlain of a hunting trip with natives in the area in the Fall of 1615 that involved the great explorer getting lost for a couple of days, which he seems to treat as an unfortu-nate inconvenience (two weeks earlier he'd had an arrow in his knee in a battle with the Iroquois in what's now Syracuse. An amazing man, and certainly tough!)

Submitted by Stephen Monty of Battersea, Ontario

page 7

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KINGSTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY SPONSORS gratefully acknowledged

page 8

Congratulations to Cooke’s — 150 years!